Notices by Christine Hall (brideoflinux@mastodon.opencloud.lu)

"The software translates the audio into narrative, and officers are expected to read through the report carefully to edit it, add details, and verify it for authenticity. Moreover, because the technology relies on audio from body-worn cameras, it often misses visual components of the story that the officer then has to add themselves": Anchorage Police Department: AI-Generated Police Reports Don’t Save Time https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/03/anchorage-police-department-ai-generated-police-reports-dont-save-time/

"You maybe haven’t thought about it, but every time you ask your favorite generative AI platform a question, you’re pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere": What's Your Chatbot's Carbon Footprint? - FOSS Force https://fossforce.com/2025/04/whats-your-chatbots-carbon-footprint/

"I'm not an expert on psychotherapy, but I am an expert on privacy and corporate misconduct, and holy shit is the idea of a chatbot psychotherapist running on some Big Tech cloud a terrible idea. Because while I'm no expert on therapy, I have benefited from therapy, and I know this for certain: therapy requires confidentiality. Shrinks are incredibly careful about privacy : Anyone who trusts an AI therapist needs their head examined https://pluralistic.net/2025/04/01/doctor-robo-blabbermouth/#fool-me-once-etc-etc

"Zelle launched in 2017 with backing from 30 banks to be a more efficient alternative to Venmo. Because of Zelle’s connections with banks, it’s able to offer instant transfers without charging additional fees": Zelle is shutting down its app, but you probably don't need to worry | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/zelle-is-shutting-down-its-app-but-you-probably-dont-need-to-worry/

“'Turns out that the climate doers category actually are the consumers who most frequent fast-food restaurants,' Rubin told TechCrunch. What’s more, some 30% of climate doers are Republicans": Who are climate-conscious consumers? Not who you’d expect, says Northwind Climate | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/who-are-climate-conscious-consumers-not-who-youd-expect-says-northwind-climate/

"It’s long been clear that Elon has never considered Chesterton’s Fence — the (generally somewhat conservative) principle that before dismantling long-standing systems, you should first understand why they exist": The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/31/the-real-cost-of-doge-musks-government-cuts-creating-massive-new-expenses/

Is it just me, or has Blender been seeing more than its usual amount of upgrades lately?: Blender 4.4 Released with a Big Update for the Experimental Vulkan Backend - 9to5Linux https://9to5linux.com/blender-4-4-released-with-a-big-update-for-the-experimental-vulkan-backend

Why would you do that when there's already an official Ubuntu spin configured about any way you could think of: Cubic - Build a Custom Linux Distribution Based on Ubuntu https://thenewstack.io/cubic-build-a-custom-linux-distribution-based-on-ubuntu/

I use ClipIt. I'm pretty happy with it, except when I'm not: 22 Best Free and Open Source Clipboard Managers - LinuxLinks https://www.linuxlinks.com/clipboardmanagers/

"Asahi Lina posted on Bluesky: 'I no longer feel safe working on Linux GPU drivers or the Linux graphics ecosystem'": Asahi Linux loses another prominent dev as GPU guru quits https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/20/asahi_linux_asahi_lina/

More from our Unintended Consequences department: People are using Google's new AI model to remove watermarks from images | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/16/people-are-using-googles-new-ai-model-to-remove-watermarks-from-images/

I'll be filing my first report from SUSECon either later today or first thing in the morning: SUSE doubles down on AI and Multi-Linux Support https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/14/susecon25/

"Ford was apparently tricked into thinking that the expensive, capacity-constrained broadband service was a sort of magic bullet for rural broadband access. But with King Trump’s mindless and destructive tariffs on Canadian goods wreaking havoc, Ford appears to have come to his senses and finally scrapped the deal": Ontario Premier Doug Ford Wisely Rips Up Contract With Starlink He Never Should Have Signed In The First Place https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/06/ontario-premier-doug-ford-wisely-rips-up-contract-with-starlink-he-never-should-have-signed-in-the-first-place/

"The MacGuffin of Picks and Shovels is a 'weird PC' company called Fidelity Computing, owned by a Mormon bishop, a Catholic priest, and an orthodox rabbi. It sounds like the setup for a joke, but the punchline is deadly serious: Fidelity Computing is a pyramid selling cult that preys on the trust and fellowship of faith groups to sell the dreadful Fidelity 3000 PC and its ghastly peripherals:" There Were Always Enshittifiers https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/04/object-permanence/#picks-and-shovels

I don't hear as much from the crowd at SiFive as I used to. I wonder what's up with that?: How The Ubuntu Linux Performance Has Evolved For SiFive RISC-V Over The Last Four Years - Phoronix https://www.phoronix.com/review/ubuntu-riscv-4years

I wonder how long it will take Trump, Musk, and Vance to figure out this unintended consequence: Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/microsoft_unveils_a_finalized_eu/

How convenient for the police, eh: You can now talk to Google Gemini from your iPhone's lock screen | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/you-can-now-talk-to-google-gemini-from-your-iphones-lock-screen/

"Friedman was a kind of court sorcerer to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Augusto Pinochet, and other assorted authoritarian, hard-right leaders who set us on the path to the hellscape we inhabit today. But before Friedman rose to prominence and influence, he was a crank. Specifically, he was a crank who dedicated his life to rolling back all the progress of the New Deal and re-establishing the Gilded Age : Ideas Lying Around https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/03/friedmanite/#oil-crisis-two-point-oh

Even if it weren't for AI, it would still be dying because it's gotten to be so crappy: Is Google Search Dying? The AI Revolution That’s Changing How We Find Stuff https://medevel.com/is-google-search-dying-the-ai-revolution-thats-changing-how-we-find-stuff/

Mozilla's attempt to put lipstick on a pig: An update on our Terms of Use | The Mozilla Blog https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/